The Republican | Mark M. MurrayPaul W. Scheer from Aaron Posnick auctioneers conducts the first of three auctions of former Kentucky Fried Chicken locations, this one at 632 State St. in Springfield.

SPRINGFIELD – Potential buyers have offered $500,000 each for the three Springfield-area closed KFC restaurants auctioned Tuesday, but that’s not as much as they are worth according to owner Jesse M. Lanier.

Lanier, who called his company Springfield Food Systems, said he has 24 hours to review the bids and said Tuesday following the third auction that he’ll likely reject them.

“It’s not what I was looking for,” Lanier said.

Lanier, a longtime pillar of Springfield’s business community, closed his seven Springfield-area KFC restaurants in March after 27 years as a Kentucky Fried Chicken owner-operator. He gave up his franchise rights in order to settle a lengthy federal lawsuit with corporate parent KFC Brands Inc.

The State Street location was Lanier’s first KFC.

At the time he shut down his franchises, Lanier owned and managed three KFCs in Springfield, the third being on Liberty Street, and one each in East Longmeadow, Palmer, Enfield and Windsor Locks.

He rented some of those locations, but owns the real estate at State Street and Boston Road in Springfield, the location in Palmer and on Route 75 in Windsor Locks.

The Windsor Locks location was not included in Tuesday’s auction and is for sale conventionally, said John P. Benoit of Gallivan Real Estate Consultants in Hampden. Benoit has been trying to sell the locations as a real estate broker for months.

“It’s slow with the economy,” Benoit said. “But it is just a matter of getting the potential buyer to understand the trade area, to understand the market.”

The 3,000-square-foot State Street location, which once also had an A& W Root Beer franchise, has lighted parking, access to both State and Pleasant streets and a drive-through window, Benoit said.

“It takes time to get those drive-throughs approved,” Benoit said. “This would be a great bank location.”

The restaurant at 1780 Boston Road is 3,200 square feet. The Palmer KFC, which once also had a Long John Silver’s, is 3,000 square feet. All the equipment will be sold with the locations, but the sale will not include restaurant franchises.